weekend

A Potluck Entry on a Saturday

/ aidan, happy, living in chicago, mommyhood, positivity, site, Uncategorized, weekend

ETA: Professional wedding photos are up here! They look amazing. :)

Today, Aidan headed back to Ohio to spend the rest of the summer with my mom. After that, he will go on a trip to Phoenix with his dad, and then he starts kindergarten. Seems like yesterday he was moving in for the summer. I keep expecting to hear him calling for me and asking for more Froot Loops or something like that.

The good-bye was painless. He’s excited about the rest of his summer adventures and I’m excited for him. I’ll miss him though. He has the cutest little cheeks and ears; I’ll miss nibbling on them whenever I have the chance. This morning, he woke up with his face and hands covered in marker. I’m pretty sure he purposefully colored his hands for some crazy reason. Thank GOD he used watercolor markers, not Sharpies!

I woke up at about 2 or 3 am with crazy allergy symptoms. The back of my throat was EXTRA itchy, and I was sneezing up a storm. I took an allergy pill this morning knowing it would pretty much render me useless all day.

I spent the day reading and napping. Adam spent the day doing mad loads of laundry. He heard that I wanted to put up a clothesline, and he went ahead and did it for me. So tomorrow, I plan to do the towels and let them line dry. There’s nothing like line dried linens. They smell amazing.

Today, Paws contacted me about finalizing Helena’s adoption. As if there was going to be any doubt! That little kitty had my heart the first moment I saw her. She eats like a little piggy, I’m worried that she’ll get fat. She’s adorable, though. Cuddly as all bananas, and she follows me everywhere. When I’m in bed, she lies either on my legs, at my feet, or right beside me. And she loves to be rubbed under her chin. She’s an awesome cat. We’re up on the adoption site, by the way. We’re picture #17 under the July 11th week. :)

I’ve been tweaking my site for the past few days, adding little things to the sidebar, adding new pages, and playing with the CSS a bit. I’m happy with how it’s evolving.

Tomorrow, it’ll be a week that Adam and I have been married. It’s been amazing. He brought me breakfast in bed twice already, he does all the cooking and kitchen cleaning; basically he takes amazing care of me. I like this life.

I’ve been feeling extra blessed lately. I am not sure if I’m just starting to relax, or if the meds are helping me. It’s probably a combination of many things. Almost all the big milestones in my life are finished (all I have left is finding full-time work), and I’m finding myself sleeping entire days away because of all the tension and adrenaline leaking out of my body. I’ve been so tightly wound the last few years, it feels weird to kind of relax and enjoy life. Adam helps me, though.

Here are things I’m happy about:
01. Being married to Adam. ♥
02. Aidan getting to enjoy a good rest of the summer with more people who love him.
03. Discovering good music (Kerli, M.I.A.)
04. Getting my hands on a rare Japanese New Kids on the Block CD called More Hangin’ Tough. This CD has versions of I’ll Be Loving You Forever and You Got It (The Right Stuff) that I only heard on the radio and could never find in the stores. I’ve been looking for these versions for years and I finally found this CD on eBay. The CD came straight from Japan, and I’m so excited to finally have it.
05. A cute little cat named Helena.
06. Living in a cool city.
07. Getting better at finding my way around said city. (Cas told me that she’s impressed at how well I get around now, and she is impressed that I give directions to people).
08. Doctors who care more about seeing to her patient’s health than making a profit; discounts when you self-pay at the doctor’s office.
09. Friends who take amazing wedding pictures and share them all with me!
10. Tang! Yummy! 😛

So, I got out all the scrapbooking stuff, and yesterday, I finally got my pictures from Snapfish. I didn’t grumble at the very late delivery and processing. The photos have been prepaid for years, and the shipping was free. All I had to pay was $1.32 for more than 100 prints. And it’s not like I’d have had time to work on the scrapbook last week anyway. Plus I needed adhesives. BUT now the pictures are here, I don’t have any work assignments lined up for the next few weeks, so I’m going to work on my scrapbooks. One will be an Aidan book and one will be a general scrapbook of the past few years. Plus a wedding book, but I’m still waiting for pictures so that I can order all the prints at once. Hoping for another free shipping Snapfish code soon!.

I guess that’s all for now. I had other stuff, but I can’t think of it at the moment. I’m thirsty, which always happens right before bed. Not good, seeing as my bladder is tiny and overactive as it is. But either way, I’ll be up, so I might as well not be thirsty. Good night!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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New Camera & Zoo! (Pictures)

/ adam, aidan, living in chicago, pictures, weekend

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo Today, Aidan, Adam, and I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo so I could see giraffes AND play with the new camera. Let me tell you, it was an adventure getting there. First, we hopped on one bus, then we got off to transfer to another bus, only the other bus only runs on weekdays. THEN Aidan had to potty, so we had to backtrack a lot to get to McDonald’s so Aidan could use the bathroom. (I had to go too, so it was fine.) Then we waited FOREVER for the Clark Street bus, and it just got more and more crowded. But there were some really good-natured people on the bus, and I had a lot of fun. Aidan yelled at me three times for laughing in his ear. :O

We ended up getting off a few stops before because the bus was just getting out of control with the number of people on it. It was nice out (at the time), so the walk was pleasant. The Zoo is free (except for parking [$12], which is why we decided to take the CTA instead of drive), and it wasn’t too crowded. Both cameras got quite a workout.

These are from my new camera:

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Ostriches!

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Deer

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Flowers (with the macro setting)

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Lion

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Lion again

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Aidan and me with the giraffes, ostriches, and a gazelle.

There are these pictures too, taken with the SLR:

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo

Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo

More here.

The Sony camera has this vivid color setting which I love, and a mode which automatically detects if a person smiles. You go into this mode, push the shutter down, and the camera waits for the person to smile before taking the picture. This one was taken with the smile detector last night:

Smile!

Pretty neat, huh?

I also took this one last night of Aidan and Crookshanks:

Aidan & Crookshanks: Booknerds in Training

I’m enjoying the camera. It’s a cool little machine and will be great to carry around with me when I don’t want to deal with the big SLR. Now, here’s the question. What do I do to get that kind of rich color in the photos I take with the SLR? When I first got it, I was getting AMAZING pictures with beautiful color. I typically don’t retouch any of my pictures, but now I’m having desperate urges to, just to get the saturation up. Now, I can’t seem to get anything that doesn’t look washed out, whether I’m inside or outside. Any tips?

That’s all for now. See ya! :)

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Nothing, Really

/ body and soul, car, living in chicago, shopping, weekend

Today, I had a doctor’s appointment. I love this doctor, and I’m not dreading going to see her again next month. And for not having insurance, the cost wasn’t prohibitive at all. Thank God I have a wonderful finace who cares about me and who takes care of me. I’d have never gone to see her without his insistence. Basically, I have been emotionally off for months now, and although I realize that most of it’s because I’m going through a million different adjustments at once, the fact that I am ALWAYS feeling an underlying sadness, irritable, and impatience among other stuff is a problem. So it’s time to see what I can do. I have two months worth of prescription samples, and the other prescription I had to fill cost me only $10.99. 🙂 We’ll see what happens.

After that, Adam, Aidan, and I hit Strack & Van Til for some name brand groceries (oh shoot, I forgot lunch meat!). Strack & Van Til is less expensive than the other stores around here (except ALDI); the prices are comparable to what I paid in Columbus for groceries. They also sell Granola Dipps there, but I don’t know how long that is going to last. I think I got the last box. :O And Vitamin Water is 10 for $10. Some places charge $1.99 for one bottle. Now, if they only had BBQ Fritos….

Then we did a bad thing. We went in to Best Buy. And I got that pink camera I’ve been wanting for months. Adam stood there and convinced me to get it, telling me that I was going to end up buying it before Disney anyway, and that I should get it while it was on sale (it was $20 off today), and that it would be GREAT to have in the Disney parks, especially at night, when I might not want to tote around the SLR. SO, I got it. I’m still not convinced I won’t talk myself into returning it, so I haven’t opened it yet. But I probably will open it and enjoy having a little camera to carry around with me. 🙂

(Adam is telling me to stop feeling guilty about buying it).

I’m sure the bank is scratching its head, because I don’t spend money like this regularly.

Today I drove again for the first time in several weeks. For some reason, I feel a great deal of anxiety driving here, and I really shouldn’t. I mean, I KNOW how to get to the grocery stores and to Target and Kohl’s and Best Buy. And anything else, I can take the bus or the train or walk because those stores are downtown. I’ve been very tempted to sell the car, pay off the balance with the money, and go to not owning a car anymore. Someone broke into my car AGAIN over the weekend and stole my emergency roadside kit. I am getting frustrated with having to get windows replaced every six weeks because people are assholes. This time they broke the window that goes up and down, but Adam found a place that charges only $65. More than half what the other places charge. Still, it’s an expense that’s ridiculous and annoying. Plus insurance (although mine has gone down woo!), and the car payment, plus the $120 yearly fee one has to pay JUST for owning a car in Chicago, and the same for registration. I don’t drive it enough to justify all that, so we were thinking of doing the iGo or Zipcar thing (car sharing, about $15 a month for three hours of usage, which is perfect for groceries and such, and the fees cover insurance, gas, etc.). I’d be sad to get rid of my car…. seems like I’m constantly giving up something by living here, but it would be good for the environment and good for my wallet. But I kind of want to hold on to it until I find full-time work. If I can’t find a job downtown and have to commute, I’ll need a car for that.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m eyeing the camera, still in the bag and in its box, and inching a little closer to opening it. 🙂 I’ll let you know.

‘Til next time!

ETA at 5:40pm I opened the camera and I LOVE IT. 😀

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Sunday (Pictures)

/ pictures, weekend, work

Tomorrow is my first day at my new job. *Gulp* Seems like, with all the changes I’ve been through in the past few years, I should be used to this, but I’m not. I haven’t worked full-time in months, so getting used to getting up early, having most of my day belong to someone else, and coming home late in the evening (on a crowded bus!) is… nervous-making (heehee, I just read EXTRAS by Scott Westerfeld). I have a Red Bull in the fridge that has my name on it for getting through tomorrow.

The hunt for work clothes is done for now. I went to Kohl’s last night, and found REALLY cute pants in the junior section…but the dang things are too long for me. I bought them anyway, because my friend Jonathon told me that I can get pants tailored at the cleaners. I never knew this. For someone who NEVER seems to fit the inexpensive nice dress pants, this is welcome news. Anyway, I got some really cute dressy clothes, and I’m excited to wear a new outfit tomorrow.

I *think* I’m starting to come to terms with Little Lucy… it’s nice not to have to worry about her anymore. I still get sad when I think about her, but I know that she’d have just gotten sicker and sicker.

Here are a couple of pictures from when I first got her in September of 2001:

She was so tiny and adorable. That first night, I took her home and gave her a bath, and we sat in the bathroom, her sitting on my chest, for hours. The next morning, she was done with the cuddling and wanted to get out and explore. She was a great little kitty. Not afraid at all of the two older cats who lived there. She often stole their food and started fights with them. But she was painfully shy, only coming out to meet people when she got a bit older. Otherwise, she was always hiding. Many guest never saw her in person. But as soon as the guest left, she’d be all over me. My very own little lap kitty.

She was a great little kitty, and she’ll always be in my heart.

♥

Yesterday at Best Buy, I saw a cute little Sony digital camera. It’s pink, 7.3 megapixels, and great quality. See it here. It’s also just the right size to fit in my bag. I love my Canon, but it’s huge and heavy, and I’d like a smaller camera to carry with me ALL THE TIME. I’m going to be working in downtown Chicago, a mere few blocks from the lake. I would hate to miss something cool. So, I think I’ll get it when I get paid. I have obligations to take care of first.

Speaking of obligations, yesterday I took care of stuff. I opened a new bank account at the place where I’d been wanting since I moved here. Got a pair of noise-cancelling headphones in the process! 🙂 Then I went to State Farm to talk about getting my insurance switched over. Turns out it’ll be better if I wait until July to do so because then my rate goes down. YAY for that. I’m covered anyway so there really is no rush. Adam put a new battery in my car, so my car is running again. Just in time, the street cleaners are coming tomorrow. We have to do some big grocery shopping this week. gotta stock stuff that a five-year old would love to eat.

This is a big week for me. I start my new job tomorrow, and Thursday, Chris brings Aidan to stay with me for the summer. In addition, my mom is coming along, so it’ll be her first time in Chicago. Work is already aware of this, and I have Thursday and Friday off to prepare. Adam and I have to clean out the guestroom so it looks more like a bedroom and less like a storage area, and we have to do some normal cleaning because the parentals will be here. Adam’s parents will be passing through as well. It should be an interesting day, and I’m very excited to show my mom Chicago.

There are some times, usually when I am eating with good friends, and the weather is sunny and mild, that I feel OK here. It’s still taking some getting used to. Like Richard said, it’s going to be a while before I can call Chicago home.

Still, I am excited. It’s summer in Chicago, and the only thing better than that is Disney World with Aidan. Everything is going to be OK.

‘Til next time….

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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YAY and BOO & Other Stuff (Long, Pictures)

/ aidan, chicago, friends, pictures, Uncategorized, weekend

Monday was an up and down kind of day.

BOO
– Adam was sick.
– I was feeling really depressed and discouraged about you-know-what.
– Someone broke into my car. Almost a year to the day of it getting broken in last year.
– Now I have to shell out $$ to get the window fixed again. >:(
– I went to Barnes & Noble to use my giftcard to buy THE PATRON SAINT OF BUTTERFLIES and they didn’t have it.

YAY
– I booked a nice work-from-home freelance gig for Tuesday.
– I got a package from zenosidal full of Aidan goodness. There were school pictures, handwriting, progress sheets, a Mother’s Day card made by him (best Mother’s Day gift EVER) and an interview paper about me for Mother’s Day. It said the following:

What is Mom’s name? Ronni
How old is Mom? 43
How tall is Mom? Smaller than Daddy
How much does Mom weigh? 50 lbs.
What is Mom’s favorite food? Everything and spinach
What is Mom’s favorite drink? Fruit punch
What is Mom’s favorite color? Pink
What is Mom’s favorite television show? The Power Puff Girls
What is Mom’s favorite thing to do around the house? Bake
What is Mom’s favorite thing to say? Everything
My mom is the best because… She loves me.

(The last sentence made me cry).

– Adam and I got a package from Adam’s mom and dad that included cool things such as brandy snifters, cheese, and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.
Adam: They’re trying to turn us into alcoholics!
– There was nothing in the car that interested the thieves, so nothing got taken out of it. Although I can’t imagine why they broke in to begin with. I guess to rifle through the glove compartment. I’m glad to have disappointed them.
– Got new books out of the library. Only 15 more days until I can take out more than five items at a time.
– Adam got me some Garrett Popcorn. OK, I know I know, I normally don’t like popcorn, but this, ladies and gentlemen, is no ordinary popcorn. If *I* am eating it, you know it’s good. I like the CaramelCrisp. Mmm. *pops some in mouth*
– I took a bath with a bath bomb. 🙂
– Gossip Girl. HOLY CRAP!
– This list is longer than the BOO list.

Cut for …. The Weekend with Rosa!

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